“He’s going to deal with it because he’s a good kid,” Rivers said. “I explained to all our guys, ‘You’ve got Kevin [Garnett] on your team. You have Paul [Pierce]. You have [Rajon] Rondo. And you’re Shav. The fouls aren’t going to go your way. It’s the truth.’ ”

But, Rivers said, “He should’ve been disappointed. I thought he played so hard and got some tough calls that went against him. He had the right to be upset.”

But Randolph didn’t seem to be after the game.

“[I] just try to keep my composure,” he said. “In a game, you’re not always going to agree with the calls. That’s just the nature of the game. You’ve just got to keep playing.”

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In terms of his offense, Randolph said he was just “rolling hard to the basket and guys were finding me. Simple as that.”

Rivers was asked if Randolph will be apart of the team’s playoff rotation. “He’s playing great,’’ Rivers said. “Just leave it at that. He’s playing great basketball and we’re going to keep playing him.”

Pierce out

Paul Pierce missed the game with a sore right ankle. Rivers said he thinks Pierce should be fine to play Sunday against Washington.

“I wanted Paul to play [Friday], but he couldn’t,” Rivers said. “Honestly, I would’ve played him if I could have. But right when [trainer] Eddie [Lacerte] said it was swollen and it was bothering him, that’s an easy decision.”

Garnett sat out his eighth consecutive game with inflammation in his left ankle. Rivers said that he thought Garnett would play Sunday, but that he couldn’t be sure.

Bradley hurting

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Starting point guard Avery Bradley went to the locker room and missed the final 3:18 with a bruised left collarbone. Bradley said he was elbowed by Kyrie Irving as the Cleveland guard drove to the basket.

“I mean, it hurts, but I’ll be fine,” Bradley said after finishing with 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting. “I get injured all the time. I’ll be all right.”

Green is wowed

In a recent interview with the Celtics’ broadcast partner Comcast SportsNet, Garnett said Jeff Green “is going to be one of the best players to ever play this game.”

“He said that?” Green asked after scoring a 23 points and grabbing nine rebounds, both team highs. “Wow. Michael Jordan who? I can be up there with him? Wow. I mean, coming from KG, a lot of respect, somebody who I look up to. Somebody who I try to follow his footsteps. I mean, I’ve watched him since Day 1 since I’ve been here — his mentality in practice, coming into games, during games, and I’m trying to take that on and put that in my game.If he said something like that, wow. I didn’t know he said that. That’s pretty big.”

Rooting section

Terrence Williams would like to catch a plane to Atlanta to watch his alma mater, the Louisville Cardinals, face Wichita State in Saturday’s Final Four semifinal.

But if he can’t — and he likely won’t because the Celtics practice at noon — Williams will still be watching and cheering on his school, especially Cardinals point guard Peyton Siva, who is from Seattle, as is Williams.

“I’m the reason he went to Louisville,” Williams said.

They played for the same AAU team, Seattle Rotary, and when Siva came to Louisville to see if he wanted to attend, Williams was his host.

“He’s always been like a little brother to me,” Williams said of Siva, a senior who averages 9.9 points and 5.8 assists per game this season.

Williams said of Siva, “He accomplished more than me, going to the Final Four two years in a row. He’s definitely made his mark there.”

Before Siva went to Louisville, Williams said he told Siva that Cardinals coach Rick Pitino would compare Siva to Williams because they were both guards from the same area.

“He kind of wants you to be a spitting image of me,” Williams said.

Williams said he and Siva talk often and Williams said that he’s also been in touch with injured Louisville guard Kevin Ware, who severely broke his leg against Duke in the Elite Eight.

“I talked to him before surgery, I talked to him after when he was walking with the crutches and they had his leg wrapped up,” Williams said.

“He told me that he didn’t know what happened until everybody was looking down at his leg, going crazy. And then he saw it and that’s when he went into shock.”

Best available talent

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban recently said he wouldn’t be opposed to drafting Baylor women’s star Brittney Griner, adding, “If she’s the best on the board, I will take her.” Asked if he imagines a day when a women’s basketball player will be drafted into the NBA, Rivers said it would be “really cool,” but that he didn’t watch enough women’s basketball to answer the question with authority. Rivers did say, “If I find a green man walking down the street and I think he can rebound, I’m going to draft him.” . . . The Celtics were expected to present the Red Auerbach Award to the team MVP, but that was postponed, meaning the likely winner is Garnett or Pierce . . . Cleveland rookie guard Dion Waiters missed the game with a left knee injury. He is second to Portland’s Damian Lillard in rookie scoring with 14.7 points per game.